Tag Archives: crap infrastructure

The check came in this morning, so I’ll be out running around paying bills and making deposits and stuff tomorrow instead of going with Mrs. the Poet to shop for groceries. There won’t be a big difference for the blog, just for my selection of salty snacks. I think I might have to give up meditation to get my BP up high enough to make the grade for the new test med, because cutting my current meds in half doesn’t quite do it, and eating salty snacks doesn’t do it either. I’m barely at 110/80 now.

Victim blaming in the Great White North. Cyclists share responsibility for accidents More blaming the victim for not wearing the GITDCS that drivers seem to think every cyclist should wear 24/7 when riding. Instead of you know, actually looking more than 20 feet in front of the vehicle.

Right hook in far West Canuckistan. Cyclist dies in collision with truck in Victoria’s Chinatown and Cyclist, 73, struck and killed in downtown Victoria I zoomed in on the picture of the crime scene and the only truck visible was a COE with good forward and side vision. So, aside from using the standard protocols posted in the links at the top of the page what could be done to prevent this wreck? They were already using the delivery vehicle with the best outward vision, the cyclist was wearing clothing that made her visible, what else could be done? EDIT: As I was getting ready to move from the first link to the next link the page updated with a much better picture of the crime scene showing the actual delivery vehicle having a conventional cab that is blind to a large area in front and to the right where the cyclist was hit. So going back to the question, replacing the delivery vehicle with a COE flat van and a glass door to the right would be a massive help.

Now this just sucks. Man pushes cyclist off BMX and rides off on it I try not to wish harm to another human being, really I do, but this guy needs to get hit by an HGV turning left at a stop light since this is over in Jolly Olde where they drive on the wrong side of the road.

Yeah, I used that headline once before so sue me. I just opened the Feed folder and … UGH! Just the headlines from the first story in each report makes my stomach churn. I might have to take another Mental Hygiene Break shortly.

On another note there will be a break coming this summer. My 40th HS reunion is coming up the first part of August, which will require I take a trip to Salt Lake City. I haven’t been back to SLC since 1978, it will be interesting to see the changes since then. There was a local hamburger chain called “Arctic Circle” that was everywhere back then, I want to find out if any are left.

When the criminal courts won’t prosecute, you have to resort to the civil courts. Bicyclist’s family files wrongful death suit When a person goes blind but doesn’t stop driving even after several wrecks, and finally kills someone because they are driving blind there should be greater repercussions than just losing your driver’s license. Just saying, it was already illegal for this guy to be driving, and all they did was make it illegal for him to be driving, how is that any kind of punishment? Did they put him on “double, secret, probation” to go along with the loss of the already-lost license?

Another SWCC wreck in the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Bicyclist Struck and Killed in Jackson County Since I can’t see the wreckage I can’t say for certain this is a crock, but the smell is certainly there. The cyclist being hauled unconscious from the scene means the only voice in this story was the driver’s.

Crap infrastructure in the UK is unlikely to get better. Government’s laughable cycling blueprint does nothing to boost safety You can’t make world-class bicycle infrastructure when you have literally no budget to build anything. I mean 2.1% of the motor vehicle budget (unless they are using “billion” as “million million” in which case that is .0021%) would build 1 project per year in the entire UK for the next 5 years as long as that project was just paint on existing pavement, otherwise it’s one project for the 5 year span.

And the same weekend as the incident in the previous paragraph. Bottle hurled at cyclists along Bruce Highway The only thing that prevented a tragedy in this case was the total lack of athleticism of the passenger in the ute. I have seen children throw with better accuracy than that idjit.

Crap infrastructure is not helped by squads of crap drivers. Torquay’s Horseshoe bend needs safety works, say cyclists after latest crash And cue the comments section for brainless demands for cyclist taxes, registration, and insurance to “pay for” the roads that cyclists are already overpaying for. I say when drivers can stop speeding, running red lights and stop signs, running in to other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians, then they should start to get roads paved and potholes repaired. And maybe a freeway or two. There was one good comment:”@Velo Velo, you need to sign up to the ATO’s cyclist rebate scheme. They assessed my taxable income last year as $0 and handed back all the GST i paid. The ATO also let council know you’re a cyclist and boom. No rates. And then if you buy a house, the state government waive the stamp duty. It’s pretty sweet. No wonder the anti cycling mob are furious.”

This Li-Al battery looks like it might make e-assist bikes practical. Chinese researchers develop new battery technology Putting the Lithium into the electrolyte and using carbon and aluminum electrodes means the lithium never has to form a lattice while charging, drastically increasing the energy storage and cycle life.

More infrastructure on a larger scale of mind. Janette Sadik-Khan replays her ‘Streetfights’ to a sold-out crowd You can’t think small when planing bike infrastructure, you have to think in terms of networks and interconnectedness. Individual projects to move that forward can be done in small bites, but there has to be a full meal in the plan.

And it is late and I got up early this (yesterday?) morning. In fact it’s after Gigi’s “bedtime” when she loses her internet (0300 CT) so she’s going to be mad she doesn’t get to review the post while it’s still “fresh”.

What a day! First the cat tries to apologize for clawing huge gashes in my hand and arm by waking me up after only 1 hour of sleep and crawling into the bed to purr loudly at me, then I spent all day getting to and from the Lab Rat Keeper, then I find out my meds are getting cut because my BP is a bit on the low side, like 100/60. For a guy whose pressures topped out at 200/145 10 years ago this could lead to dizziness, confusion, and loss of consciousness. None of that is especially good. The good news is if my pressures come back up with lower dosages I get to participate in another side-effect study before the end of this year.

From my neck of the woods. How tracking police data by race can make unfair laws look like the cops’ fault Among other things this article identifies one of the main problems of the Metroplex: People don’t work where they live nor live where they work in the main. When only 5% of drivers stopped in a town are residents of that town, you have a problem with sprawl, and auto-centrism because everyone drives even if they don’t want to. So much of this area is a transit desert where if you don’t have a car you are trapped.

Another dead pedestrian in NYC. Woman Fatally Struck By Sanitation Truck Driver On Upper East Side And for all those wondering why I have so many links from Gothamist and Bike Portland,it’s because I visit those web sites pretty much daily. Anywho, this was another blind driver just proceeding into space that was already occupied, and killing said occupant. And the Universal Get Out of Jail Free card shall be used, “I didn’t see her” and all will be forgiven.

And I got this video sent to me by several people from many different sources. Video: How to teach bus drivers to give cyclists space I thought the ones where the “riders” clothes wer actually ruffled by contact with the bus were good, unless the driver was not actually trying to get that close in which case they were fucking terrifying.

For the non-geek non math nerds in my readership, today is Pi Day (3/14) where because the greek letter π is pronounced the same as the English name for a pastry crust baked in a pan with a filling we celebrate by eating pie. This year I’m having apple. Pi Day is like my fifth or sixth favorite holiday in the year, because I like pie! So go to your favorite gastro pub and have some pie! I hear the “Eat what I give you or I’ll go back in time and kill your grandparents as babies” pie is delicious.

This guy didn’t get very far on his trek across the US and Central America. Cyclist on B.C. to Panama ride injured in crash in Forks Another driverless car involved in a serious wreck? I though the only wreck like that was a bus hit at 2 MPH. Next-to-last paragraph of the article mentions the SUV had a driver… Anywho, hit-from-behind wreck, use the protocols to avoid. Crush and shred the SUV to prevent another wreck.

AZ infrastructure news. Tucson bicyclist using data to thwart fatal crashes Before the tumor took me off my bike I was getting a scary pass every time I rode, and a near-death experience about once a week. That might have something to do with the slow pace of my recovery.

Another hit-and-run in OH this time. Teen bicyclist dies after struck by 3 vehicles on Harrisburg Pike The hit-and-run (or hit-skip as the call it in OH) was the first weapon vehicle involved, the one that hit the cyclist from behind with the left side of the vehicle. I know it was the driver’s side because the cyclist was launched into oncoming traffic. There are only two ways for that to happen, hit with the left side of the car or be sharply aimed to the left at the time of impact. Both require the cyclist to be riding primary as our UK brothers call it. Well I suppose the driver could go completely off the road and come back on right where the cyclist was riding at the edge, but how likely is that?

Wreck in CT caused by AFRAP laws. Cyclist injured in Morris fall flown to hospital by Life Star What do I mean by this wreck was “caused” by As Far Right As Practicble laws? the cyclist was hugging the right side of the road and went over the edge and fell, which would not have happened if the cyclist was allowed to take the lane at all times.

Hit-from-behind in MS. Bicyclist killed on Highway 98 Most of the article is behind a paywall so what little I know says the cyclist was in no way at fault in this wreck: Daylight, hit from behind and not at an intersection (yet).

I thought I heard all the stupid excuses for hitting a cyclist. Jail sentence for driver who killed cyclist when he was ‘running late’ Well I heard that one before. Trying to get there just a fraction of a second faster so he cut the corner on a blind turn and hit a cyclist head on. And just what would have happened had there been a semi truck around the corner instead of a man on a bicycle?

Amazingly enough with all the bad weather we had, Mrs. the Poet returned on time tonight to DFW airport. We stopped off at the Whataburger down the street to get dinner instead of heating up leftovers which would have been too much cooking for Mrs. the Poet after her day of travelling. I had a Bacon Jalapeño and Cheese Whataburger, Mrs.the Poet had a Grilled Whatachicken, and our son had the regular Whatachicken. And of course everyone had fries and a soft drink. I also ducked into the neighboring grocery store to get coffee and milk so that there would be caffeine in the morning.

Second infrastructure link from America’s Copenhagen. County’s new mobile app tells you if the bridge is up or down For those of us who live in the flatlands this doesn’t sound like that big a deal, but knowing which bridges are going to be impassable because thay are up to allow tall river traffic to pass can literally be a life-saver.

Infrastructure in NYC. NYC On Pace To Build A Record 15 Miles Of Protected Bike Lanes In 2016 Wow, 16 miles in only one year. Meanwhile here in the Metromess they rebuilt a freeway from 4 to 6 lanes in each direction in about the same time. It didn’t help, of course, and it cost billions of dollars to build, but hey, they were doing something to reduce congestion. And side-street congestion did go down on the through streets immediately adjacent to the freeway, so far. But, Woo! yeah, 16 miles of protected bike lanes.

Still in NYC a man assaults a cyclist riding in the bike lane and gets bashed in the head. New Video Shows Pedestrians Ignoring Bloodied Bike Lock Assault Victim According to comments they were ignoring him because he instigated and took one to the head in response. Not that I advocate violence against pedestrians, but when one jumps out into the street to start wailing on you, you are within your rights to return the favor with prejudice. I mean the idiot went up against 3:1 odds, he can’t be all that bright.

The guy wasn’t even riding the bike yet. Hit-and-run driver kills cyclist on Madrid shared bike scheme The victim was just at the pulling the bike from the rack portion of the transaction when he was hit. I see this as much an infrastructure failure as a driver failure, because if you can get hit using the system as intended before you even get a bike, then someone has screwed up majorly.

Two vulnerable road users were injured in Oz. Skateboarder and cyclist injured in two accidents last night Of course it’s now Friday night over in Oz… and I don’t know what led to the cyclist hitting the lamp post, if he had help from a motor vehicle “guiding” him or if he somehow did it in his own.

Yep, it were windy out here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, with one tree losing a branch to the wind. Otherwise things are just fine. Still doing good on edibles, I have about a half pot of beans and rice seasoned to my preference, plus Pop Tarts, ramen, Spam (I’m having the teriyaki flavor tonight with my ramen), and a fresh jar of peanut butter that I just opened this morning to put on my bagel. So food I got, and Mrs. the Poet will be returning from NY tomorrow evening.

Still in CA, but covered in one of Ted’s posts yesterday. Bicyclist Hit, Killed by Moving Truck in Rancho Palos Verdes Right hook but the cyclist was riding hard in the bike lane. At least I think that was a bike lane. The cyclist’s speed had a great deal to do with this wreck, both in the fact that it happened and in the severity of the wreck as to how for under the truck the cyclist got squished in the initial impact. The fact the cyclist was dragged for miles under the truck more than likely only changed the condition of the body, he probably died in the initial impact.

I think this was national but reported by a PA media outlet. Early data suggests pedestrian deaths surged in 2015 There were more deaths across the board but it looks like peds took a larger share than previously lending more ammunition to the need to get drivers out from behind the wheel because the cars are great at protecting people inside the car but utter crap at protecting people outside the car.

Ran red, killed cyclist, needs to spend rest of life working to repay victim’s family after long prison sentence in the Great White North. Trial begins for man accused of running red light and killing cyclist For those not fluent in metric, bystanders estimated the speed before the wreck at 55-65 MPH, the reconstructionist put the speed at 41.6 MPH at impact with heavy braking.

well, I tried. I set the alarm and tried to get up to go to the bank before the bad weather hit. I even dreamed that I did get up and made myself a nice hot breakfast, but what really happened was I hit silence on the alarm without ever fully awakening, and slept another 2 hours. How I did that is another mystery because I use my cell phone as my alarm clock, because I have trained myself to sleep through the alarm from the alarm clock after working 2nd and 3rd shifts while Mrs. the Poet got up at 0400 to go take the flavor out of children’s lunches. The thing is there is no button to turn off the alarm on the cell phone, just a red area on the screen that moves around depending on how you hold the phone so you have to look at the phone to figure out where the red button is before tapping that area of the screen. Somehow I managed to do that without ever coming fully awake from the dream I was having and just incorporated all of that into the dream. Anyhow, long story short I didn’t get to the bank to get money to buy coffee, so now I have to make do with other caffeine sources until tomorrow.

Still in CA. Woman Riding Bicycle Struck, Killed by Car in Santee The narrative on this one screams SWSS. I mean “ she suddenly veered left across both northbound lanes,” is kinda the stereotypical “Suicidal Swerve”. Now assuming the narrative is correct and the cyclist did suddenly go from the curb to the inside lane in the blink of an eye, don’t do that, Seriously start making your lane change way early just so you don’t get caught out like this person.

Moving a little closer to home (but closer to Ted than to WoaB in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell). Boy riding bike injured in crash The narrative is believable on this one, the kid went through the intersection without looking for cross traffic.

Update on a NM bike wreck victim’s recovery. Teen cyclist hit in South Valley says he doesn’t remember crash I remember everything up to the impact, them waking up after coming back to life and asking to be moved gently because I had broken the upper end of my femur. About the only thing I don’t remember was getting hit and then flying through the air and landing. This kid was spared even the little I went through.

And what that low regard can cause. Laws a win for cyclists everywhere That’s right, he actually thinks $400 fines for rolling a stop sign or red light on a bicycle and $300 for not wearing a helmet are a Good Thing. Stockholm syndrome cyclist.

And I was sent several variations of this, but since they all say the same thing I’m just including the first link in my inbox. Ostrich Goes Full ‘Road Runner’ To Chase Down Cyclists Seeing as almost the entire video showed the backside of the ostrich in front of the camera bike, yeah I’m not buying the “chase” scenario.

And I’m all outta links, Maybe I can get to bed at a reasonable hour. Nahhh.

I’m still alive and feeding myself (and using up some leftovers). I’m building the other engines I got from VCG Resins (the LS7 and the Ford Coyote) so that I don’t spend much time thinking about not being with Mrs. the Poet and doing my own cooking. Something I noticed is the LS7 engine is almost identical to the SBC, while the Coyote is slightly shorter but much wider than the SBC. I can foresee much wailing and gnashing of teeth trying to get that in the same chassis and especially under the same hood as the SBC. I mean the hood barely fits over the SBC when everything is above the bottom of the lower frame rail and the body sits on top of that 1.5″ square lower frame rail. And I just measured the thickness of the transmission pan and the thickness of the temp floor in the bucket and if I use the temp adhesive to glue the transmission to the inside of the floor without the pan it raises the engine to exactly the height it would be if the bottom of the body was sitting on top of a scale 1.5″ square rod. This makes mocking up much easier, and I will be able to take a picture showing almost exactly what I would see from the driver’s seat of the 1:1 Sprint-T.

Still in CA. 2 Suspects Sought in Shooting Death of Man Riding Bicycle in San Bernardino Talk about stupid, if they had run the guy over and stayed at the scene and cried a bit how they never saw the guy until they hit him, there would have been no big deal over the dead guy and LEO probably wouldn’t have even put any points on the driver’s license. But because they shot the cyclist now there is a big manhunt going on and probably both are going to get charged with murder and conspiracy to commit.

OK, now that Big Story, more on the drunk driver that hit a group of 10 cyclists waiting in a bike lane for a red light in AZ. 2 bicyclists killed, 2 injured on Tucson’s NW side and Santa Fe bicyclist killed in Arizona; truck driver arrested also 2 bike riders dead as pickup hits New Mexico group in Tucson this too Santa Fe cyclists among those killed, injured by impaired driver in Arizona Again, there were 10 bikes in the group, 4 cyclists were injured enough to not be able to walk from the wreck site, one was pronounced dead at the scene, one died after reaching the hospital, one remains in critical condition, and one may already be out by the time I hit the “publish” button on the composing page. There was some speculation that the driver may have been distracted in addition to being drunk, which would make his loss of driving skills drunk2. Actually I don’t know that is true, I’m extrapolating from the MythBusters episode where they compared driving with a cell phone (hand-held and hands-free) to driving with a BAC of 0.08% and found cell phone driving to be slightly worse than drunk driving, so combining the two would be either 2drunk or drunk2. It all depends on if it is a linear or exponential relationship. And I just went full nerd on you, sorry.

It took FL LEO long enough to charge this guy. Driver charged in death of Weston bicyclist I mean he only killed the guy back in July, the victim died at the scene so they were not waiting on tox screens or anything.

An important part of WI infrastructure. Teaching Safe Bicycling Couse Misspelled word is a cut-and-paste from the headline, I know where to put the “r” in “course”. It does slightly worry me that such a major typo got through.

Another link to the man convicted of careless driving for killing a cyclist while driving drunk. Seven years behind bars for West Molesey man who killed a cyclist Once again I say this was a case of serious under-charging when they called driving drunk “careless”. Seriously, drinking and driving is a deliberate act, not “careless”.

Maybe I could get a job writing headlines for UK newspapers, whadyathink? Anywho, Mrs. the Poet is now safely ensconced at O’Hare waiting for her connection to La Guardia where her dad and step-uncle will be picking her up for her trip to the boonies of Upstate NY. I expect to hear back from her when she gets to he mom’s house.

But the part for the Mini Sprint-T came in this afternoon and I couldn’t resist slapping the temp adhesive to some of them and mocking them up. The first thing I did was assemble the 700R4 transmission and mount it to the back of the engine, the second thing I did was add the EFI throttle body to the manifold. Then as soon as I could move things around without dislodging them I took a picture in front of the bucket in about the same orientation as the last mockup picture.
Can you see the problem? Look at the location of the transmission tailshaft assembly in relation to the body. Now can you see the problem? The end of the transmission is literally right next to the driver’s hip. Now in my case that’s not a problem because my ass is narrow and deep. I am literally 13″ wide in a 22″ space where the tailshaft is, so I have plenty of room to park my butt. Other people trying to drive my car are not going to be as comfortable. But wait! There’s more!
Can you see the other problem?
See how wide the transmission is all the way back? That’s going to impinge on lateral leg room almost all the way to the seat. I had previously measured the width of the footbox as 7.5″ to 8″ at the bottom with a little bit more room for the left foot as the tumblehome of the body went out as the side of the body went up. Taking the firewall out and sliding the transmission inside the body really shows how little room there is.
As you can clearly see the 700R4 was not designed for a severely dropped T-Bucket. I’m obviously going to have to provide a foot rest for the passenger and do a lot of contouring for the transmission tunnel to get everything and body inside the car. Ain’t engineering with pre-existing components fun? 😛 That thing in front of the engine is a combination of the timing cover, water pump, front engine mount, and alternator and power steering mounts all molded as a single piece. The balancer/crank pulley fits in the half-moon notch at the bottom that matches a hole in the front of the block, the water pump pulley goes on the water pump, and the alternator goes on the passenger side and the power steering pump goes on the driver side both at crank level.

Up first, a kid can’t even play in front of his own home without risking sudden death. 4-year-old boy hit, killed in parking lot in southwest Houston Seriously, are you in that big of a hurry that you run over a kid? The only “good” thing to come from this is “Police said, at this time, they do anticipate the driver will face charges.”

Another link to that cyclist with an ICE-assist bike getting hit from behind in FL. Police ID bicyclist hit, killed on Westside And another media outlet feels the deceased’s criminal record has something to do with the wreck.